Edmonton police chief investigates rank-and-file revolt: sources

Edmonton's police chief has launched an investigation after dozens of posters featuring his picture were placed on the walls at police headquarters, and bulk emailed to members, CBC News has learned.

The poster features a publicity shot of Mike Boyd with the made-up words, "I'm sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of how awesome I am."

As part of his investigation, Boyd has assigned officers to take fingerprints from the posters, and the Information Technology staff has been ordered to track down the source of the email, CBC News was told.

Insubordination charges will be laid if the person responsible is caught, the sources said.

Dozens of copies of this poster of Edmonton police Chief Mike Boyd were placed on the walls at police headquarters.

Boyd released a statement Friday saying he looks forward to working with the police union and is committed to hearing the concerns of police officers.

"It is not unusual for frustrated persons in an organization to express their displeasure with leadership," the chief said in the statement. "I remain committed to the members and to hearing their concerns and working toward addressing these issues."

Many police officers are pushing their union, the Edmonton Police Association, to hold a non-confidence vote in the chief, sources said. There's no word on when or if that will happen.

In his most recent directive, earlier this month, Boyd ordered his officers to use only clean language with even the foulest of criminals.

Many officers expressed resentment about the new policy, Sgt. Tony Simioni, president of the Edmonton Police Association, told reporters when the directive was made public.

There are plans to work with Chief Boyd to get through the internal problems, Simioni said Friday.

"We're going to go forward and we are going to engage the membership in as many meetings as it takes that they get the sense that they're being heard," Simioni said.

It's expected the chief will hold a news conference early next week to talk about the situation, he said.

Former constable critical

After three years with the Edmonton Police Service, Marko Duran resigned as a constable last month. He now works for another police force and said he left the Edmonton force because of the hostile work environment created by Boyd.

"It's not a good working environment in Edmonton and you know the citizens of Edmonton deserve better. They deserve a better chief and better leaders of that organization," Duran said.

"You know good chiefs or good leaders of any organization, they inspire and motivate their people, and Mike Boyd certainly hasn't done that for his membership. And once you lose the confidence of the vast majority of the people that you lead, it's probably time to move on if you're the chief," Duran said.